.svg)
A Missouri judge has ruled that a ballot measure to permit sports betting may remain on the ballot despite a legal challenge that attempted to invalidate it.
In a ruling late on Friday (September 6), Cole County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Green found that Amendment 2, a ballot measure championed by prominent online betting operators and Missouri professional sports teams, had received a valid number of signatures and was properly certified for the ballot by Secretary of State John Ashcroft.
Two Missouri citizens had sued to block the measure, arguing that Ashcroft had incorrectly set the required thresholds to qualify for the ballot and that additional signatures should be ruled as invalid.
State law requires ballot measures to collect signatures from 5 percent of legal voters in at least six of Missouri鈥檚 eight congressional districts, and Amendment 2 did just that, narrowly meeting the standard by just 82 signatures in one of the districts.
In his ruling, Green gave deference to the Secretary of State鈥檚 authority to certify a ballot measure and existing state-law precedent.
鈥淟awsuits seeking to remove an initiative petition from the ballot after it has been certified as sufficient by the Secretary are highly disfavored,鈥 Green wrote. 鈥淭he parties have not identified any case in the history of Missouri where a Plaintiff has succeeded in removing an initiative from the ballot through a certification challenge.鈥
Green referred to prior case law that said courts must 鈥渓iberally construe statutory provision to make the power of initiative effective, and will not adopt a construction of a law as would permit the disenfranchisement of large bodies of voters because of the error of a single official鈥.
When courts are asked to intervene in a proposed voter referendum, they 鈥渕ust act with restraint, trepidation, and a healthy suspicion of the partisan who would use the judiciary to prevent the initiative from taking its course鈥.
As a result, the judge wrote, the plaintiffs 鈥渉ave not offered sufficient justification or evidence to call the Secretary鈥檚 certification of sufficiency of the sports wagering petition into question鈥.
Green also rejected arguments that Ashcroft had used incorrect methodology to set the thresholds in the first place, and that no additional signatures should be ruled invalid.
Although Friday's ruling is subject to appeal, Winning for Missouri Education, the political action committee that backed the petition, celebrated the decision.
鈥淭oday鈥檚 ruling, while expected, is nevertheless a big victory for Missourians, who overwhelmingly want to join the 38 other states that allow sports betting, so that we can provide tens of millions in permanent, dedicated funding each year to our public school,鈥 said a spokesman for the committee formed by Missouri professional sports teams.
鈥淔or too many years, Missourians have watched as fans cross state lines to place sport bets, which deprives our Missouri public schools of much needed funding.鈥
If the measure does survive any appeals, voters will have the opportunity to weigh in during November鈥檚 general election on whether to legalize land-based and mobile wagering throughout the state.
The measure would authorize land-based betting at riverboat casinos and professional sports facilities, as well as granting each land-based operator one mobile betting skin.
The Missouri Gaming Commission would also be authorized to issue two untethered mobile betting licenses.
FanDuel and DraftKings have been the primary financial backers of the measure, so far contributing more than $10m combined to bring the sports-betting measure to the ballot.
